News

2007-01-10 12:23:07

Pup at a pub, Bude, Cornwall

In the mid-afternoon, RSPCA Animal Collection Officer/BDMLR Medic Jon Phipps contacted Area Coordinator Dave Jarvis about a pup by Crooklets Beach, Bude. Dave passed the call over to local Assistant Coordinator Hannah Walter to deal with and also put Medic Dan Jarvis, who was at Newquay at the time, on standby in case it needed to be tube fed fluids.

Hannah arrived at the site and met the original caller on the beach, who showed her where the pup was. She assessed it to be fully moulted male, underweight, coughing and with a deep injury to a rear flipper. Consulting with Dave, it was decided that the pup needed to be picked up and taken for rehabilitation at the RSPCA Hospital West Hatch, Somerset. Hannah rescued the pup and held it at her workplace, the Bay View Inn at Widemouth Bay, while Jon and Dan mobilised to the scene.

When Dan arrived, he and Hannah went about assessing the animal more in depth and treated its injuries. It was noted to be very docile and quiet and was not at all aggressive while being handled. The temperature was found to be within the normal range while the deep flipper injury and other superficial bite wounds were cleaned with hibiscrub and tetcin spray. The pup was then tubed fluids and left to rest for a short while before Jon arrived to transport it to West Hatch, where it weighed in at 14.75kg and was named ‘Houdini’ after making an escape attempt once it had arrived there!